Installing the program did confuse us a bit, because although it's a free program, it refers to purchasing the program, and you're given a confirmation number. On top of that, the program recommends that you view the online tutorials before getting started, but you might have some trouble deciphering them unless you speak Italian. Luckily, the built-in Help menu is more than adequate and written in English. The user interface is simple but professional in appearance. Intuitive commands line the top of the window, and tabs reveal options for disk images, partitions, XML definitions, and scheduled backups. A helpful wizard guides you through the process of setting up your backup. We were able to quickly select our backup location (local hard disk, network, CD/DVD). Before proceeding, it provides you with a summary of your backup so that you can see the backup type, destination, compression type, and password protection. Here is also where you can make advanced configurations to the compression levels and file sizes.

The program did slow our computer while it worked its magic, and we were unable to browse or work with other resource-intensive programs at the same time. However, we were able to watch the backup process, and the program successfully backed up our C Drive without a hitch. If you're looking for a simple but reliable backup program, we highly recommend Macrium Reflect Free Edition to all users.

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Publisher's Description

Macrium Reflect Free Edition. An award winning disk imaging solution for free. A complete disaster recovery solution for your home and office. Protect your personal documents, photos, music and e-mails. Upgrade your hard disk or try new operating systems in the safe knowledge that everything is securely saved in an easily recovered backup file. Macrium Reflect supports backup to local, network and USB drives as well as burning to all DVD formats. This version is for non-commercial home use.

What's new in this version:

Version 4.2 build 4209 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

The Free version does not have incremental backup unlike the paid version. Besides the help file, there is a quick guide on using this software at http://tipsfor.us/2008/10/17/ghost-windows-for-free-with-macrium-reflect-a-visual-guide/ .

It Needs A Partition As Big As The Originally Imaged Partition/Hard Drive--NOT Just The Size Of The USED SPACE Of The Originally Imaged Partition--In Order To Reinstall Easily

Summary

I used this program to image and reinstall both operating system partitions of an independently configured (ie, independent bootloaders) dual boot Windows 7/XP Professional laptop. Creating the images was fast and simple, but when I tried to reinstall the images I encountered a serious flaw in the program. The XP partition I imaged was 98GB, with 6GB used space, and became a 4.7GB image; the Windows 7 partition I imaged was 200GB with 26GB used space, and became a 14.3GB image. The Problem: when I attempted to reinstall each image, separately, to a 50GB test partition--SMALLER THAN THE ORIGINAL PARTITION IMAGED BUT BIGGER THAN THE ORIGINAL USED SPACE ON THE PARTITION IMAGED--I was unable to do so. After a bit of Googling, I discovered that this was a flaw in all Macrium Reflect editions, and in order to reinstall an image such as the above I had to use an application (also freeware) called RoboRestore to first extract the "usable" information from the image and then reinstall it on the new partition. Of course, I was unable to run RoboRestore from the Macrium/Linux Recovery CD I made when I first installed the program, so I had to use the installed Macrium Reflect Free Edition on one of my two operating system partitions to reinstall the images on the test partitions. This worked (a bit slowly), but what happens if not just one of the operating system partitions, but instead the entire hard drive, is corrupt? This to me is a fatal flaw in the program and forces me to look elsewhere for a freeware imaging/backup program.

Does it's job, but nothing more.I encounterd a little problem while creating the rescue-cd. I turned out I had to put in an empty cd before I started the program.

Summary

It's a great program to make an image back-up. This it does simple and good. But you can't use it to make a back-up of just your personal files. (Why do you need a program for that anyway. Copy-paste works for me.) As it's free it doesn't support incremental back-ups. Since I tink the full back-ups work fast enough I don't miss that function.Unlike some other reviewers I had no problem with USB-drives.Why only 4 stars: first that problem I encounterd while making a rescue-cd and second because I think they should have told it was only to make images of drives in their summary. Thus founding the summary a bit deceptive.

I can't stress it enough: It's great if you want a image of your drive wich you can restore (when you destroyed the registry again) but it is not for any other way of making an back-up.

I found it complex, difficult to understand, and time consuming to set it up. It was beyond my computer knowledge. So I jerked it out of my computer and kept looking. I finally found something more suited to my level of computer knowledge.

Summary

If one is a computer whiz maybe it would make sense to him or her. I am not, it did not, and so I moved on to another product. But I subsequently discovered it had made some changes to my computer which I found I had to undo. I don't know if it was my fault or that of the program; however, I was somewhat distressed to discover that it began loading up the D drive with all sorts of extraneous matters from the C drive which did not belong on the D. A restore point before Macrium was put to use saved my bacon as well as my computer.

Don't know about the extra items left in your D drive but there is a useful quick visual guide on using this software at http://tipsfor.us/2008/10/17/ghost-windows-for-free-with-macrium-reflect-a-visual-guide/ .

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